Activision has expanded its Ricochet anti-cheat system in Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 to specifically target exploits within the game's Ranked Play mode, aiming to close loopholes that cheaters have been using to gain an unfair advantage in competitive matches. The move comes as the developer continues its ongoing crackdown on cheating, which it says has already resulted in more than 263,000 bans issued this year alone across the franchise.

The expanded protections are designed to detect and prevent specific exploit techniques rather than just traditional cheat software, reflecting how cheating methods have evolved to target ranked competitive play in particular. Activision has framed the update as part of a continued, long-term investment in Ricochet, which has been used across recent Call of Duty titles to identify and remove cheaters, with the 263,000 figure underlining the scale of the ongoing problem the studio is trying to address.